


plethora

by halcyclonic



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - After College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Real World, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Domestic Bliss, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-30
Updated: 2016-03-25
Packaged: 2018-02-06 22:29:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1874790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halcyclonic/pseuds/halcyclonic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>a collection of mildly plotless but shamefully fluffy chapters in which a post-college Ymir and Krista navigate their way through romance, unemployment, and adulthood.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. sweet nothing

When Ymir awoke, she found she’d lost all sensation in her right arm. With her left, she blearily rubbed at her eyes, reluctant as they were to wake at such an hour, and blinked heavily. Her nose wrinkled as she adjusted to the weak dawn light that was filtering through a gap between the curtains and illuminating the dust particles suspended in the air. She first established the plethora of Krista’s soft golden hair fanned out across the pillow next to hers, and Ymir found herself grinning despite the sleep deprived state she was in. This girl’s hair was like sunshine itself, glimmering in every light like a halo.

Krista stirred in her sleep, and, though the numbness in her arm was beginning to extend to her shoulder, Ymir couldn’t bring herself to risk extracting it from beneath the other girl. She couldn’t feel it, but she knew Krista’s small hand would be gripping her own. Growing restless, she dared to shift her position. Slowly, Ymir extended her free arm until her hand found the gentle curve of Krista’s hips. 

Though the blonde stirred once again beneath her palm, Ymir felt safe in the knowledge that Krista remained asleep and so closed her own eyes. Aware of the fact that she would be unable to return to sleep now she had awoken, Ymir lay beneath the single sheet they were using dur and waited for Krista to wake in the later hours. Even in the early morning, the humid heat from the previous day still lingered in the air. Though only a single layer of cotton covered the two, it was like the mattress itself was fitted with central heating; the air conditioning in their rundown little house had never been reliable, and it was when they needed it most that it had the tendency to break. 

As Ymir lay overheating and lacking the feeling in one limb, enjoying the soothing scent of whatever conditioner it was that Krista habitually used, her thoughts never strayed from the girl lay before her. She’d never been shy around Krista, quite the opposite. A mere days after their meeting, Ymir had proposed marriage; jokingly, of course, but the sentiment remained as truthful as it had been the moment the words ‘marry me, Krista’ had left her lips.

The two had known each other for a few years, but for Ymir regarded every moment with Krista as extreme good fortune on her behalf. And now, sharing a bed with the girl of her dreams, Ymir felt this more than ever. She’d been frequently waking in the early hours of the morning as of late, and this realisation struck with surety in the times when she felt Krista’s side gently rise and fall with the steady movement of her breathing.

Hours passed in pensive silence as Ymir waited for Krista to wake. When she eventually did, it was with a faintly audible little yawn that melted Ymir’s heart like butter.

‘Morning, sunshine,’ she addressed the freshly woken Krista with sensitively spoken words, though her grin was broad.

Krista turned her head just enough to see Ymir over her shoulder, and smiled sleepily at the girl behind her. ‘Hmm, morning. How long have you been awake?’

With a slight shrug of her shoulders, Ymir responded. ‘Like, a couple hours. Since four, maybe.’

‘Ymir!’ Krista exclaimed. ‘You should have woken me! It must be at least eight by now. I told you to wake me when you did, silly.’

God, even when she was scolding her, Ymir loved this girl.

‘Yeah, well, you look so cute when you’re sleeping. But you’re right, I should have. You’re fuckin’ killing my arm.’ Ymir smiled wryly, giving her half-dead arm a jerk.

‘Oh! I’m so sorry,’ Krista gasped, rolling off the arm of her girlfriend with a further panicked string of apologies, and Ymir withdrew it from the mattress with a chuckle. 

As she gripped her elbow and pulled her arm across her body to remedy the numbness, Ymir rolled her eyes. ‘Shut up, Krista, you don’t need to apologise to me. You’re too damn cute. Get that cute little ass over here and keep your girlfriend warm.’  
Krista didn’t even open her mouth to argue that the last thing Ymir needed was warmth. The room was still as stifling as it had been when Ymir woke, though the blonde turned so the two were face to face and shifted her body closer all the same.

They soon became a tangle of limbs, with Ymir’s right hand entwined within the gentle curls of Krista’s golden hair while Krista’s left arm folded itself around Ymir’s neck, and their legs became indistinguishable beneath the sheets as they grew closer to one another. They remained like this for some time, with the light outside soon bathing the room in the yellow light of mid-morning.

They remained this way for most of the morning, content in one another’s peaceful company. However, as the sun rose ever higher in the determinedly cloudless sky, the heat of the room soon reached a critical level. Crickets and cicadas soon filled the air with their relentless drone. 

‘Ymir…’ Krista began in a voice only audible to one as close to her as Ymir. ‘Ymir, I’m too hot. Do you think you could let go of me, so I can go shower?’

‘Mm…’ Ymir had allowed her eyes to drift shut while they lazed in bed, but upon recognising the questioning tone in Krista’s words she laboriously lifted her eyelids. ‘Only if you let me join you,’ her words were thick with tiredness and the effort of speaking through a playful smirk. She resumed her absent-minded brushing of the gold hair intertwined between her fingers.

A light blush coloured Krista’s cheeks, though she raised an eyebrow in a suggestive manner. ‘Maybe.’

An amused chuckle escaped through Ymir’s lips; it was with reluctance that she pulled her left hand from beneath Krista’s waist, and disentangled her fingers from her hair.

‘Alright, alright… for safety’s sake, I’ll go in after you. It got a little slippery last time, remember?’ was Ymir’s grinning response. With a sigh, she rolled onto her back, keeping her eyes trained on Krista, who blushed lightly but gave a teasing smile as she turned away from Ymir and rose from the bed.

Despite Ymir’s sensible refusal on the grounds of safety, Krista couldn’t help but tease her girlfriend as she approached the door, and pulled her pyjama shirt over her head before discarding it on the bedroom floor. Ymir heard her adorable little giggle as she closed the bathroom door behind her, and couldn’t help but chuckle at her girlfriend’s display of daring. Of course, shyness was honest to Krista’s character, but her daring side was never too distant when around Ymir.

In silence, Ymir listened to the continual beating of the water on the tiled floor of the shower while waiting for Krista to return. She pushed herself up using her elbows to lean against the headboard, kicking the cotton sheet from the sticky skin of her legs. From the window, she could see the crystalline blue of a cloudless summer sky and groaned at the prospect of another night spent in sweltering heat. Another night with Krista, however, was a much brighter outlook.

A little over ten minutes later, Ymir heard the tell-tale creak of Krista turning the faucet off, and the absence of the somewhat soothing sound of the gently falling water brought her from her reverie. Krista was good like that. She never spent too long in the shower, even though she had all that golden hair to wash.

‘Ymiiiiiiir,’ Krista’s sing-song voice echoed from the tiled bathroom.

With languid movements, Ymir swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood, idly lifting an arm to scratch at the nape of her neck. She didn’t much care herself, but Ymir’s hair was easily knotted, and had formed something of a bird’s nest in the few hours of sleep she had managed to steal. With a wide yawn, she made her way across the door and into the room opposite.

When Ymir entered, Krista was stood by the sink running a hand through her dripping wet hair, and humming softly as she did so with a towel wrapped around her petite body. Ymir smiled fondly, and paused in the doorway to watch her.

‘Oh!’ Krista gasped in surprise when her peripheral vision became aware of the girl hovering over the threshold. ‘You scared me,’ she reprimanded softly, but she smiled nevertheless. ‘You’re usually so heavy footed, see…’ She added as she turned to flash Ymir a playful smile.

Smirking and arching an eyebrow, Ymir responded, ‘Hm? Did I really startle you, blondie? You did shout me, after all. And I walk like a damn fairy.’

‘I didn’t think you’d get up so quickly, you see, because it usually takes you at least ten minutes to psych yourself up,’ Krista teased. Ymir scowled, though the expression didn’t last longer than a few seconds before her amused smirk returned.

‘Now you’re just being rude,’ Ymir said as she passed through the doorway to instead rest her shoulders against the mirrored cabinet. ‘How was your shower?’

Leaning over the sink, Krista began to twist her hair and watched as the water drained down the plug. ‘Showery,’ she replied as she stood upright, ‘The water’s perfect. Don’t move the temperature dial and you’ll be fine.’

‘Always looking out for me, that’s my Krista,’ Ymir said affectionately as she stepped over to the blonde and stooped to kiss her gently on the lips. Indubitably aware that Krista would be blushing at this simple gesture, Ymir turned and began to walk towards the shower, pulling her t-shirt over her head with little regard for her modesty. Discarding the shabby grey tee on the floor, she next removed her pyjama shorts with the same inattention, and the pile of clothing on the floor was soon joined by her boxer shorts.

Behind her, Krista uttered a little yelp of surprise, supposedly when being met by Ymir’s muscular and completely naked back when turning to reply.

With a shake of her head and a fond smile, Krista said ‘I’ll leave the towels in the sink,’ before darting across the hall to the naked-Ymir-free zone of the bedroom to get dressed.

In the shower, Ymir turned the faucet on and waited for the water to reach an agreeable temperature. The gentle heat was invigorating, and she held her face to the showerhead to allow her tanned skin chance to cool.

Krista lingered by the door after dropping the towels into the sink, watching Ymir’s blurred silhouette through the steamed pane of glass separating them. Ymir, however, didn’t notice this- busy as she was with cursing and splashing water in her stinging eyes after becoming careless with the shampoo.

The two were dressed and ready by mid-afternoon, but they didn’t leave the comfort of their house other than to check the mailbox.

And they spent the rest of the day doing sweet nothing.


	2. moonlight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a romantic date was in order. cue sunsets and thai food.
> 
> implied sexy times because I'm trash but not quite trashy enough.

‘Come ooooon, Krista,’ Ymir whined as she pressed her forehead against the back of the other girl’s neck. It was proving to be another idle Saturday, and the two had been sprawled across the sofa for more hours than they’d cared to count. Ymir was growing restless, bored from the copious amounts of shitty daytime television shows that they’d been forced to watch in the absence of cable. The lazy summer heat was beginning to subside as August rolled into September, but Ymir still found their dilapidated sofa to be a welcome retreat from the warmth.

‘But we’re supposed to be saving up, Ymir,’ Krista countered with a sigh, but her tone suggested a weak argument. Her body was curled up against Ymir’s toned stomach, and her golden hair was, as usual, intertwined within Ymir’s long fingers. ‘To fix the air conditioning, remember?’

‘Yeah, but come on. It’s nearly winter anyway. We’ve been here all day, let’s go out. Just this once, huh? How about Thai?’ Ymir proposed with a sly smirk. She knew she’d played her winning card. Krista couldn’t say no to Thai food.

The blonde clicked her tongue and shook her head in apparent disapproval, though she glanced over her shoulder and caught Ymir’s smug gaze with a hopeful smile. ‘To the one three blocks away? With the little round table by the window?’

‘To the one three blocks away. With the little round table by the window.’

Krista’s lips curved into something of a coy smirk, and Ymir welcomed the desire to kiss them. Krista carried the same thought; she shifted onto her side and craned her neck to press her lips against Ymir’s.

‘So that’s a yes, then?’ Ymir asked, smiling beneath Krista’s soft lips. This chick must be wearing everlasting chapstick, she thought briefly, before brazenly kissing Krista a little harder.

With a nod Krista pulled back from the kiss, her cheeks flushed a delicate shade of pink, and pushed herself up to a sitting position. She stood, and raised her lithe arms above her head with her jaw stretched in a broad yawn. She made the cutest fucking noises when she yawned.

Krista left the room to change, her little feet hitting every creak on their wooden staircase as she made her way upstairs. Ymir’s eyes drifted to the window before she reluctantly rolled off the sofa and heaved herself up onto her feet.

In the bedroom, Ymir could hear the scraping of hangers on the metal bar of the wardrobe as Krista skimmed through her small collection of pretty dresses. The thought of Krista in one of said pretty dresses made the prospect of going out to eat all the more attractive to the freckled girl.

‘Hey,’ Krista called just as Ymir crossed the threshold, ‘I can’t decide.’ There was a soft whine to her voice that Ymir found simply adorable. Krista was holding two dresses aloft; one patterned with a delicate floral design and the other a simple white lace number. Ymir held her hand to her chin, hovering in the doorway and flicking her gaze between both dresses with a discerning expression.

‘Well, if it means anything, you’d look fuckin’ perfect in either.’

Krista rolled her eyes and giggled softly, extending her arms to better analyse her outfit dilemma. ‘You always say that. What are you going to wear, hmm?’

‘Uh… this?’ Ymir said as looked down at her current outfit: a coffee stained t-shirt and a pair of tattered jeans. She immediately thought better of it. ‘Or-’ she added hastily, unable to look up at what would undoubtedly be Krista eyeing her with disapproval. She was all too familiar with that particular expression: one eyebrow arched in austere questioning and her lips parted in incredulity, and so glanced around the room desperately, ‘That shirt. And… those jeans.’ 

Both of Ymir’s impulsively selected items had been left in a crumpled heap on the floor, and both items had seen better days.

‘I don’t think so,’ said Krista sternly, gently placing her dresses on the bed to instead flick through Ymir’s insufficient assortment of loose-fitting tees and near threadbare skinny jeans. Eventually she pulled a red plaid shirt from the wardrobe, along with Ymir’s least shabby pair of jeans, and held them out to the shamefaced brunette. ‘Here, put these on. And we’re going shopping next time we’re both off work, okay?’

Ymir groaned as she accepted the selected outfit. Though she hated to admit it, Krista was right. She needed new clothes more desperately than ever; even if this meant suffering through hours of being dragged into every clothes shop in the shopping mall just out of town.

The two were ready within half an hour. Krista had decided on the lace dress with no valuable advice from Ymir, who had insisted that she should go in her underwear. The sun had begun its descent as they drove over to the restaurant in Ymir’s battered and near prehistoric Ford pick-up truck, and the drive took them only ten minutes- though a suspicious rattling noise had originated in the bonnet by the time they pulled up in the car park of the restaurant.

‘Shit!’ Ymir cursed aloud, patting the pockets of her jeans with her eyes wide in alarm the moment she turned the engine off. ‘My wallet was in my other pair! Fuck, I knew I needed them for a reason-’

A giggle from Krista cut her short, and the blonde produced a scruffy wallet from her purse.

‘You mean this wallet?’ she asked with the gentle smirk she always wore when she’d remembered something that Ymir hadn’t. It was Krista’s little way of saying ‘I told you so,’ and Ymir exhaled a heavy sigh of relief before she grabbed her wallet from between Krista’s fingers.

‘You’re an angel. I thought I was gonna have to drive back home. And I don’t know if this piece of junk can make it back this time,’ Ymir said as she patted the dashboard of her truck. The engine spluttered as if in protest to this particular sentiment.

Krista giggled again, leaning across the gears to place an affectionate kiss on Ymir’s cheek before opening the passenger door and blithely hopping from the car.

Grinning to herself at how thoughtful and downright incredible her girlfriend was, Ymir did the same and almost collided with the bonnet in her haste to reach Krista. She clasped the blonde’s hand in her own as they strolled into the restaurant. The place was as inviting as ever: the scent of fragrant spices drifted through the open door and the window boxes were bursting with their usual array of vividly coloured daisies. Beads hanging from the doorframe swung idly in the late summer breeze, and the hum of cicadas provided a certain poolside atmosphere.

There was barely a soul in the restaurant; a rather bored looking server welcomed them after surreptitiously slipping his phone back into the pocket of his apron, and directed Ymir and Krista to the table they usually occupied by the window.

‘Hey, chief,’ Ymir summoned the lone waiter over with a whistle, ‘How ‘bout you light candle for my girl, eh?’

Krista blushed, aiming a light kick at Ymir’s shin under the table. However, she chose to leave Ymir’s lack of manners unchastised for the time being.

‘Ow! Hey, I’m just trying to set the mood here. And he was gonna light it anyway, weren’t you pal?’ Ymir shamelessly grinned up at the waiter, who nodded obligingly as he set the wick of the candle alight.

The evening passed swiftly as the two sat, bathed in the orange glow of sunset that was soon surpassed by the chrome moonlight of a cloudless sky. Since they lived on the outskirts of a bustling city, the air pollution was too dense for many stars to glow visibly. However, the moon shone with enough vivacity to counter the lack of them, and Krista’s hair glittered in the silvery light. Ymir couldn’t keep her eyes off her.

Eventually, with plates pushed aside and the dwindling candle steadily dripping wax onto the napkins, the couple sat in idle conversation as they held hands over the table cloth- covered with food splatters courtesy of a messy Ymir. When Krista laughed, her brilliantly blue eyes shone with amusement, like shattered glass glistening in the moonlight, and Ymir was finding it increasingly more difficult not to tell her golden haired companion how beautiful she looked at every brief lull in conversation. Equally, she was fighting the urge to lift the petite girl in her arms and take her back to the bedroom, but for now she was content with merely gazing into the oceanic depths of Krista’s blue eyes.

It was gone ten by the time Krista suggested they go home with what Ymir took as a flirtatious smile. With only slight hesitation, Ymir agreed and settled the bill, tipping with the leftover change. They’d somehow managed to blow just over thirty dollars on this meal, but she’d keep that one quiet from Krista, at least for now. It was probably Ymir’s ordering dessert that pushed the price up, anyhow.

The drive home was spent in silent contentment with Krista’s small hand on Ymir’s as she worked the gears. The roads were unusually quiet for a Saturday evening, but Ymir took this to her advantage and elected to drive leisurely as they approached their house. The road passed beneath the wheels with callous rapidity despite Ymir’s intentionally unrushed driving.

With the car parked on the roadside, the two entered the house together. Ymir carelessly threw her keys onto the small end table beneath the stairs as Krista made her way upstairs to their bedroom. Ymir’s eyes followed her, her lips forming a soft smile as she watched her figure disappear, and as a result the car keys slid from the table onto the floor beneath. This went unnoticed however, as Ymir’s attention was occupied by the thought that the white dress, simple as it was, looked perfect on Krista. Ymir, however, had other ideas for the white dress. Namely, the bedroom floor.

To Ymir’s surprise, when she entered the bedroom she found that Krista had already tossed aside the pretty dress she had tried so hard not to crease all night, and that the same pretty dress was lying in a crumpled heap on the floor while a half-naked and smiling Krista waited expectantly for Ymir.

The freckled brunette was almost unable to believe both her eyes and her luck, though she briefly thought how she should have grown accustomed to the intimacy she shared with Krista by this stage in their relationship. Nevertheless, she shook her head and began to unbutton her now redundant plaid shirt. 

‘You really should learn to say please and thank you, you know.’ Krista said through gently smirking lips.

A husky chuckle escaped Ymir’s lips as she discarded her shirt.

‘Please,’ she responded, having now added her jeans to the pile on the floor. She advanced towards Krista, but they met halfway and sunk onto the mattress as their lips met.

Afterwards, Ymir held Krista softly until she was convinced she could feel her blood pulsing in the veins beneath her fingertips, and until their eyes began to feel heavy with sleep, then until morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finished this chapter in one night because I legitimately have nothing better to do. thank you for reading!


	3. ephemeral

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> employment and pancakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have both way too much free time and way too few things to do and those factors combine and create a woefully plotless yumikuri fanfic. I don't know where I'm going with this but I'm having fun so.

It was nearing the end of September and the sky was heavy with a thick layer of ominously grey clouds. The air was sharp and crisp, but Krista had opened the bedroom window in an effort to tempt in a breeze as a way of soothing her nerves. As such, the curtains were drifting towards the bed upon which Ymir was sprawled, shielding her eyes from the gloomy light sifting through the curtains. Krista had been awake since seven, preparing for a job interview at some high street clothes retailer in the centre of town for which Ymir had dutifully promised to wake at the same time and drive her to.

‘Why the fuck is this interview so early, anyway?’ she complained, turning her head to peer at Krista, who was over at the dressing table pulling a comb through her faultless golden hair.

Krista giggled, twisting her torso to roll her eyes at Ymir.

‘9am is a perfectly reasonable time, lazy. It was the only time the manager said was available before the shop opened, anyway’ she explained patiently.

Ymir groaned and rolled over on the mattress, pulling the sheets over her head and pressing her face into the pillow.

‘Why do you even want some shitty retail job, anyway? People are rude and everyone will hit on you,’ her words were muffled, but Krista discerned the petulant tone of the muted noises issuing from beneath the sheets.

‘I know you’re still worried about me, but I’ll be fine,’ Krista spoke in a placating manner as she placed the comb gently on the table and stepped over to the bed.

Ymir turned onto her side, peering up at Krista’s petite frame from a gap in the covers, ‘You won’t let a single slimy jerk touch you, right? Or let any crazy bitches yell at you? ‘Cause retail is brutal like that.’

With a nod Krista perched on the edge of the mattress, which sunk just a little from her weight. ‘Not a single slimy jerk.’

‘Or crazy bitches?’  
‘Not one,’ Krista laughed softly, tapping Ymir’s back before standing. ‘Now come on, rise and shine. You promised to drive me in, remember?’  
Ymir groaned again, and cocooned herself in the cotton sheets.  
Eventually, Krista coaxed Ymir from the safety of the bed with the promise of pancakes when they returned. Just as Krista’s weakness was Thai food, Ymir’s was, without a doubt, pancakes, and this encouraged the freckled brunette to get dressed with her usual careless haste. It took her all of two minutes to throw some clothes on, though there was an abundance of cursing as she dragged a brush through her painfully tangled mess of roughly cut hair.

On the drive into the city, Ymir remained obediently silent as Krista flicked through her résumé. This didn’t stop her, however, from reaching across the gears to give her girlfriend’s arm a reassuring squeeze.

They pulled into the car park of the clothing store with only minutes to spare. Ymir parked in a disabled spot for the ease of access, and remained there, despite Krista’s insistence she move, on the grounds that it was way too early for anyone to be out, and the shop hadn’t even opened yet anyway. 

‘You all ready, huh? Feeling confident?’

Nervously, Krista gave a small nod and slipped her résumé into her bag. She even managed a courageous smile. Ymir hated to see Krista with pre-interview nerves. She wanted to comfort, to soothe, and to reassure. But she was fucking useless at that, so instead she did what she always thought most appropriate when unable to offer verbal support. She leant across the gears to meet Krista’s lips with the softest kiss she was capable of, bringing her right hand up to gently cup Krista’s jaw.

Krista thanked Ymir for her support by returning the kiss with equal affection, pulling her lips away only when she saw the minute flick over on the ancient digital clock that resided in the truck’s dashboard display.

‘I’ll be back in half an hour. Wait for me?’ she asked, her forehead pressed against Ymir’s.

‘What the fuck else would I do,’ came Ymir’s grinning response, and she caressed her thumb over Krista’s cheek before returning her hand to the wheel. ‘Go smash that goddamn interview. Make me proud.’

Though she knew Krista would be back no later than half nine, the dread of loneliness and anxiety filled Ymir’s stomach moments after the blonde disappeared behind the automatic glass doors of the shop. Of course, Krista was entirely competent in interviews, or experienced at the very least. The two had applied to a great many jobs in recent months, with only a handful being successful and even less surviving over a few weeks. They were growing more desperate, however, falling behind on their rent and struggling with their tiny shopping budget. Living off noodles had its perks, but with the nutritional value of cardboard it wasn’t a habit they could hope to sustain forever, especially considering how Ymir misplaced the flavour sachets whenever she cooked them.  
The wait for Krista to emerge from the glassy front of the building was excruciating for Ymir, her stomach tight with apprehension. She tried to distract herself with an attempt at polishing the dashboard with the cuff of her shirt, but the layer of dust was thicker than she anticipated so the effort was short lived. Instead, Ymir took to picking at loose cotton threads on her shirt; stealing glances to the shop front every few seconds like an overbearing parent waiting for their kid after the first day of kindergarten.

When Krista finally did emerge, it was with an unexpectedly satisfied smile as she stepped out from between the reflective automatic doors. Ymir rolled down her window just in time to catch Krista’s euphoric shout.

‘I got it, Ymir!’ the blonde called in happily, practically skipping over to the car. She halted by Ymir’s window, poking her head into the car to plant a kiss on the lips of her pleasantly surprised girlfriend. ‘I got the job!’

‘What, seriously? You for real? That’s awesome!’ Ymir cupped the nape of Krista’s neck with her right hand and pulled her in again for a second celebratory kiss.

‘Hop in, sales assistant, you’ve got some pancakes to make for your ever-so supportive and very proud girlfriend.’

Ymir leant across to the passenger side and pushed open the door. Krista rolled her eyes and circled the car, sliding onto her seat and pulling the door to behind her. 

As promised, Krista set about making pancakes the moment she dropped her bag on the kitchen counter. Ymir, true to nature, kicked a chair away from the table and slothfully dropped onto it with a sigh. Her eyes followed Krista as she danced from cupboard to cupboard, enjoying her girlfriend’s exuberant mood now that the prospect of a steady income was reality.

‘So?’

‘So what?’ said Krista, struggling to reach the bag of all-purpose flour that Ymir had so thoughtfully placed in the cupboard above the microwave.

Upon realising that Krista’s struggle was not in fact a flirtatious gesture, Ymir pushed herself up from the chair to help out.

‘Man, I keep forgetting how short you are,’ Ymir teased as she handed the flour to the smaller girl, who thanked her with a warm smile. ‘But when do you start, anyway? Please say Monday. Not- not that I want you to go,’ she amended. ‘I mean, I’ll miss you, but we seriously need the money. If I get that useless fuck of a landlord on the phone complaining about rent one more time I’m gonna start throwing punches.’

Krista giggled at Ymir’s inherent use of bad language and well recovered response as she began to weigh out the flour. ‘They’ve given me a trial day on Monday, but…’ she trailed off as she focused on tipping the flour into the bowl without spilling. ‘I’m sure it’ll be fine. After all, I’ve worked in retail before. We both have,’ Ymir groaned as Krista glanced to her with a smirk, backing away and returning to a slumped position on the chair.

‘Not that again,’ she closed her eyes and tilted her jaw up in exasperation, a dull blush rising in her freckled cheeks. ‘Who even thought it was a good idea to put me in a flower shop. Like hell I know the difference between a daisy and a fucking gerbil or whatever it was.’

With another laugh, Krista corrected her. ‘Gerbera.’

‘Whatever,’ Ymir grumbled, folding her arms across her stomach and returning her attention to Krista.

Krista made the best pancakes in the whole world, Ymir thought. Even better than that little breakfast place in the next city over that claimed that title for itself, and she’d be willing to argue them. As testament to this notion, Ymir practically inhaled all five while Krista ate her double serving with much more self-restraint and basic food etiquette. With her impending trial day at her new job, Ymir hoped that Krista’s manners would prove more of a blessing than the unsympathetic world of retail would allow.

-

‘Well, I certainly didn’t ask you to defend my honour,’ said Krista rationally as she tended to Ymir’s bloodied knuckles with a water soaked rag.

The brunette clicked her tongue. Her narrow gaze, one eye even more so due to its swollen state, refused to meet Krista’s. The skin over her ribs was beginning to sting as a consequence of the ice pack she’d been holding against it for the past ten minutes or so.

‘Those sons of bitches don’t get to treat you like that and expect to just waltz on outta the shop like they own the place,’ she muttered defiantly, though beginning to regret her decision to take on three college football boys by herself. The stinging in her knuckles was worsening the more Krista, however gently, pressed the cloth against them. With the dull throbbing of her swollen eye and the pain in her undeniably bruised ribs, Ymir wasn’t in all too enviable a physical state.

‘No, but, still…’ Krista’s argument against Ymir’s reckless actions was disintegrating as her worry overtook that of her desire to reprimand the brunette. ‘Are you alright? How are your knuckles feeling?’

‘Like I’ve just punched a fucking wall. I forgot how goddamn hard cheekbones are,’ Ymir winced as Krista pressed the cloth against the worst affected knuckle of her middle finger. ‘Dude must had been pumped full of Adamantium, or some Wolverine shit, because ow.’ Ymir hoped that Krista would understand the reference. Otherwise, she just risked looking like a massive fucking nerd in front of the golden haired angel currently nursing her justice gained wounds. Luckily, Krista laughed.

‘He might have, but I definitely think this is more of a “you should see the other guys” situation. I think they came out worse off, I really do,’ said Krista reassuringly, dipping the bloodied cloth into the bowl of tepid water residing on the table. ‘Can I take a look at your ribs?’

Grudgingly, Ymir lifted the hem of her t-shirt and pulled the ice pack away to reveal a tinge of yellow against the tanned skin of her torso. Krista pursed her lips, her brows furrowing in concern, and gingerly pressed her fingers against the bruising. With a sharp intake of breath, Ymir flinched away from Krista’s touch.

‘Sorry! Sorry, sorry,’ Krista rapidly withdrew her hand as if she’d touched an open flame. ‘But there’s really nothing else to do for bruised ribs except hold the ice pack against it for a little while…’ she offered Ymir a comforting smile, though her gaze caught on her blackened eye. ‘And maybe against your eye, too, it’s, uh… a little worse than it looked when we got home. Hold on, I’ll find you a Popsicle.’

Ymir managed a throaty laugh as Krista hopped from the chair and over to the freezer, but the action of this triggered a shooting pain in her ribs and she yelled out as she clutched the icepack to her side again.

‘I’m coming!’ Krista called as she rushed back to the injured girl’s side, thrusting an out-of season ice lolly into her free hand.

-

In a way, Ymir mused as she lay lounging across the sofa, it was lucky that Krista to lost her job at the clothing store. Otherwise, Ymir would be stuck in the house like a total invalid, without Krista to make her lunch or refresh her icepack, or to sit on the floor beside her so she could absentmindedly twirl a strand of her blonde hair while they watched movies all day. Of course, it was entirely Ymir’s fault that she was virtually incapacitated, what with initiating a three-on-one fist fight in the middle of a busy clothes store, but she could easily find fault in everyone’s actions. Obviously, the three assholes who thought they could try it on with Krista were fundamentally at fault. And, naturally, the manager of the shop for posting a damn job application. Then of course there was the employee before Krista, for quitting, or getting fired, and if they were fired then the person who fired them. Ymir arrived at the conclusion that it was a vicious cycle of accountability, but where everyone but Krista was to blame.


	4. audacity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> christmas in the yumikuri household means cookies and college friends. hello, 104th trainees squad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's a little out of season but I wanted the chapters to be vaguely consecutive in terms of date (even if it has been two years oh my god apologies) so here's the fourth installment of plethora!

‘Krista, which box did you want first again?’ Ymir yelled from the crammed and dimly lit storage room adjacent to the bathroom, hoping that Krista could hear her all the way downstairs.

In the kitchen, Krista laughed as she weighed out sugar for the batch of holiday cookies she was baking, and raised her voice in response. ‘The Christmas tree box might be a good start… it’s the one that's laballed ‘Christmas tree’.’

Snickering to herself, Ymir replied with a distracted ‘On it’ as she scanned the cardboard boxes stacked ceiling high before her. Eventually, she located the pile devoted entirely to festive decorations and, after a brief struggle with a splitting box marked ‘junk’ that was blocking her path, succeeded in hauling the three Christmas boxes into the hall. One by one, she then carried the boxes down the stairs and stacked them by the front door before making her way into the kitchen.

Immediately, Ymir was struck by the sheer amount Krista had managed to bake. The crisp December sunshine was illuminating every available surface, which, including the table, was host to at least six trays of festively shaped cookies; stars seemed to be a favourite, second only to the easily recognisable figure of a Christmas tree. Krista, meanwhile, was stood at the counter mixing up another bowl of cookie dough.

‘Jesus, Krista, are you trying to fatten me up? You know you’re supposed to eat turkey and not tall tan girlfriends on Christmas, right?’ Ymir joked as she walked into the kitchen and dropped onto a dining chair, selecting a perfectly golden star shaped cookie from the nearest tray.

‘But turkey’s expensive,’ replied Krista, turning to shoot a mischievous smile in Ymir’s direction. ‘And this is going to be the last batch. Everyone’s coming round later, and you know Sasha’s a demon when it comes to eating.’

As the two of them had managed to get seasonal retail jobs over the festive period, they had decided to host something of a Christmas party for their wider friend group. Ymir had somehow secured a stint in a beauty store selling bath salts and Christmas candles, so she’d spent the entirety of December smelling like holiday spices and covered in glitter. Her girlfriend, on the other hand, had found her true calling as a Christmas elf in the local mall, handing out flyers to advertise the Santa’s grotto. Her tiny height and dainty features made her ideal for role, so Ymir thought it a shame that elves were only hiring once a year.

Ymir snorted a laugh, nodding as she crunched down on her cookie before replying with her mouth still full. ‘You’re right. Bet she’ll finish off half of these before anyone else gets a chance. Anyway, we putting the tree in the living room like last year? Or do you wanna try it next to the table this time?’

‘Um…’ Krista paused her kneading of the dough to glance around the room, lifting an arm to use the back of her hand to brush her hair from her face. It was tied back in a messy bun, but strands were beginning to escape. ‘Maybe if we move the table over this way a little, and take the plants off the windowsill, there might be enough space… but then what would we put in the living room instead… What do you think?’ smiling, she looked to Ymir for an opinion.

As impartial as ever, Ymir gave a shrug. ‘We’ve got that weird little inflatable snowman Connie gave us, we could put that in here. It’s not so big, so it won’t take up much room? Then keep the tree next to…’ This time, it was Ymir’s turn to pause as she looked back to her girlfriend, and she snickered when she noticed that Krista had inadvertently dusted flour across her forehead.

‘What’s so funny?’ Krista asked, once again using her floured hand to clear her face.

‘You auditioning for the part of Simba now? Come here, you’ve got flour everywhere,’ Ymir stood and joined Krista at the worktop to dust the flour from her face, and then planted a soft kiss on her now clean forehead. ‘There.’

Grinning up at Ymir, Krista wrinkled her nose. ‘What would I do without you?’

‘Probably a lot better than I’d do without you,’ Ymir admitted with a laugh. ‘You know I can’t do laundry for shit. So, tree in the living room then?’

 

‘And weird little inflatable snowman in here, you got it,’ Krista returned her attention to her cookie dough, but not before leaning up on her tiptoes to kiss her girlfriend. ‘I’ll be in to help as soon as I get these in the oven.’

‘You’re an angel,’ said Ymir, turning to wink at Krista as she left the room.

Fifteen minutes of cursing later, Ymir had successfully assembled their rather sorry looking artificial Christmas tree and, after a surprisingly brief untangling, strung gently twinkling fairy lights around it. The two had inherited the tree from Connie around the same time as the inflatable snowman, who had in turn inherited it from his parents when a newer model was in order. However dishevelled the tree was, Ymir and Krista were grateful for the decorations, as their bad luck with employment meant non-essential spends were often out of the question. Even so, Krista loved to shop for Christmas ornaments and had amassed quite the collection thanks to post-holiday sales.

Krista joined Ymir just in time to start decorating, having put the cookies in the oven, washed her hands free of flour, and re-tied her hair into slightly neater bun. Ymir glanced up from the floor, where she was knelt by the tree surrounded by bubble wrapped ornaments, and gave a jokingly disapproving click of her tongue.

‘So that’s how it is, huh? Miss all the hard work and join for the fun stuff?’

‘Exactly,’ came Krista’s playful response as she sat cross-legged opposite Ymir. She deliberated for a moment, then plucked a glass ball ornament from the bubble wrap and hooked it onto the tree with a gleeful ‘ha’.

‘The audacity,’ Ymir shook her head and picked out another glass ball. ‘If you weren’t already on the naughty list, that’s just landed you right at the top.’

‘But I’m an angel, you said so yourself,’ Krista countered with an innocent smile in Ymir’s direction, coincidentally hooking an angel figurine onto a lower branch. ‘How can an angel be on the naughty list?’

Ymir snickered, and pursed her lips in mock thought. She carefully chose another ornament to place on the tree before looking to Krista with a challenging expression, one eyebrow arched. ‘You sure you really want me to answer that question, little miss tease?’

Krista lifted her eyes to meet her girlfriend’s, then immediately blushed at her implications. Hurriedly, she averted her gaze to the tree and busied herself with rearranging the angel ornament she had placed there earlier. Despite this, Ymir could see Krista’s adorable little smirk and, satisfied with her teasing, placed a golden heart shaped ornament on a branch.

-

After the two had successfully decorated the Christmas tree, Krista iced her surplus of holiday cookies while Ymir set to work decking the halls with boughs of fake holly and cheap tinsel. Soon, their shabby little house had been transformed into a budget winter wonderland. Ymir had just sprawled across the sofa when there was a knock on their door at 8 pm sharp.

True to nature, their friend Armin was first to turn up. He was the most punctual of their wider friend group, which meant that Eren and Mikasa arrived along with him. The trio shared a spacious apartment on the other side of the city, but Mikasa’s swift driving skills always ensured they were on time.

Ymir clicked her tongue as she opened the door to greet her friends. ‘Don’t you guys know it’s cooler to arrive late? Come on, Armin, live a little. Hey, everyone,’ she added in acknowledgement of the small crowd gathered outside their house.

Armin laughed as he stepped through the door, closely followed by Mikasa, Eren, Connie, and Sasha. ‘We had to pick up Connie and Sasha on the way. I didn’t want us to be too late.’

‘Ah, Ymir, what’s Krista been baking?’ Sasha pushed her way past the others in the cramped hallway. Without waiting for an answer, she went straight through to the kitchen.

‘Hello to you too, Sasha. How’ve you been. Please, make yourself at home,’ Ymir remarked sarcastically with a roll of her eyes. ‘You guys wanna sit in the living room? I put the dining chairs in there but a couple of us are gonna end up on the floor anyway. Krista made me use the vacuum so it’s clean as fuck.’

Connie snorted a laugh. ‘Sounds like you’re officially a domestic goddess now, Ymir. Will you come and vacuum my apartment, too?’

‘Fuck off, Springer,’ said Ymir dismissively as she lead the way into the living room.

Everyone had arrived within the hour. There was barely chance to move in the living room; Mikasa, Eren, and Armin were sat together on the sofa, though it was a tight fit by the time they were joined by Jean and Marco. Armin ended up on the arm by the window, with Annie perched on the opposite end while Reiner and Bertolt took over the dining chairs. As the host, Ymir was content on the floor with her head on Krista’s lap and their fingers intertwined. Connie and Sasha were strategically sat in front of the television, as four nearly empty plates of cookies were sat on top of the coffee table straight ahead of them. Despite the lack of space, the group couldn’t have been happier in each other’s company, and the room was alive with the continual buzz of conversation

‘You guys should really buy another sofa,’ Jean remarked, helping himself to a reindeer shaped cookie. ‘This piece of shit isn’t big enough for all of us.’

‘Oh, sure. ‘Cause selling cinnamon scented bath salts really makes the big bucks,’ Ymir scoffed. ‘Fuckin’ millionaire, me. You’re being squashed against your boyfriend, anyway, don’t pretend like you hate it,’ she added with an impish grin in Marco’s direction. Like Krista, Marco was easy to embarrass. His freckled cheeks were soon coloured with a pink blush.

‘Shut up,’ Jean grumbled, breaking his cookie in half and giving the bigger piece to Marco.

‘These cookies are really great, Krista,’ said Marco with a smile in Krista’s direction as his blushing subsided. In the corner, both Sasha and Connie released indistinct noises of agreement through mouthfuls of food.

Krista beamed, and dipped her head in thanks. ‘I’m glad you like them. I’ve been baking all day while Ymir decorated the house.’

‘Ymir did it? So that’s why the place looks like shit then,’ said Reiner, elbowing Bertolt until he received a supporting laugh.

‘Fuck off, Braun. It looks like Santa’s fucking elves decorated the place,’ argued Ymir, lazily lifting her head from Krista’s lap to shoot both Reiner and Bertolt a brief glare.

Though she was usually the strong, silent type, Annie interjected. ‘When did interior design become your forte, Reiner? Last I heard you still haven’t redecorated your room since you moved back in with your parents.’

This elicited a tumult of amusement from the group. In the corner, Sasha snorted so hard that cookie crumbs flew from her mouth, which made Connie laugh even harder. Even Mikasa, who was easily the most stoical of them all, couldn’t help but snicker. Annie fixed Reiner with a small, satisfied smirk before falling silent again.

After the laughter had died down, the twelve friends fell into a cookie-induced coma. The conversation was much quieter, which gave Ymir time to appreciate how content she’d begun to feel in recent years. From childhood, she’d always been the loner type- her quick to fight attitude and blunt sense of humour certainly hadn’t helped her make friends, even if she’d wanted to. However, it was at college where she finally found her feet, socially. She hadn’t expected to gain such a wide, supportive network of friends, who appreciated that her being a sarcastic asshole was all part and parcel, and saw past this to her heart of gold. In addition, never in her wildest dreams had she imagined she’d find her dream girl. Ymir never really fell for all that ‘soulmate’ crap, but now she’d adopted a very different outlook. Krista was the best thing that ever happened to her; she was Ymir’s soulmate, there was no other explanation. Meeting her really had been the icing on the (Christmas) cake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the christmas cookies didn't get burnt but reiner sure did ohhhh.

**Author's Note:**

> it's almost summer and I'm going to have a lot of spare time to write, so more chapters will happen sooner or later. thank you for reading!


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